


More Than A Game

by ladyillusion



Series: Divergent Worlds [11]
Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! - All Media Types, Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters (Anime & Manga), 幽☆遊☆白書 | YuYu Hakusho: Ghost Files
Genre: Alternate Universe, Audio Format: MP3, Gen, Podfic Available
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-17
Updated: 2019-10-17
Packaged: 2020-12-21 01:43:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,007
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21066710
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ladyillusion/pseuds/ladyillusion
Summary: Shuichi frowned down at the card he’d just drawn out of his deck. Mystical Elf. Useless. He looked up to meet the smug face of his opponent across the desk.“Make a move, pretty boy,” Yusuke drawled. He lounged casually in his chair, unaffected by the competitive nature of their current activity.Ghosts and games collide.





	More Than A Game

**Author's Note:**

> This chapter is available in audio form for those who would prefer to listen rather than read. Please note that this is a text to speech recording, which means that there may be some issues with it.
> 
> [Stream or download MP3 via Google Drive](https://drive.google.com/file/d/13Y4L17OwDsEsQEJZXZpuN6MS5D4C2NBv/view?usp=sharing)

Shuichi frowned down at the card he’d just drawn out of his deck. Mystical Elf. Useless. He looked up to meet the smug face of his opponent across the desk.

“Make a move, pretty boy,” Yusuke drawled. He lounged casually in his chair, unaffected by the competitive nature of their current activity.

“Hey, don’t rush him,” Kuwabara protested, his tall, curious form casting a shadow over the field of play on the desk.

“I’ve got him anyway,” Yusuke declared. “Come on, fox-boy, get on with it.”

Shuichi scowled at Yusuke before setting his new card facedown in the defence position. Yusuke was right. Shuichi was just delaying the inevitable. But he was going to play it right down to the wire.

The game ended within five turns. Shuichi gathered up his cards and put them away as Yusuke enjoyed his victory and Kuwabara offered consolation.

“Thanks for playing with me, Minamino,” Yusuke said as Shuichi was preparing to leave the classroom. “That idiot’s no challenge anymore.” He gestured at Kuwabara, whose face turned as red as Shuichi’s hair at that statement.

“If I had better cards…” Kuwabara grumbled.

“I would be happy to duel with you anytime, Yusuke,” Shuichi responded. His gaze lowered to the pyramid that hung around the student’s neck. The eye that was moulded onto the side of the upturned pyramid stared back at Shuichi, hiding its own secrets behind a gold veneer.

It was a rather showy piece of jewellery for a high school student. Not that Shuichi could judge. Around his own neck was a ring made of the same golden metal. It felt as heavy as a ship’s anchor. Did Yusuke’s feel the same? Shuichi doubted that.

“Yeah. Anytime, Minamino,” Yusuke agreed good-naturedly.

Shuichi departed from the school grounds, leaving behind the light and company of his peers for the growing darkness outside.

_I could have won that duel._

Resolutely, Shuichi pretended that he hadn’t noticed the stray thought that had slipped into his mind. The thought that carried with it a deep, ageless sense.

Shuichi boarded the train, treating his fellow passengers with the same indifference he’d shown the intrusive thought. He wished that he was alone. Truly alone. He was never alone these days.

No one greeted Shuichi when he entered his apartment. He flicked the light switch on to see that everything was as he’d left it. The pile of mail, most addressed to his stepfather, sat unopened on the table in the living room. The light on the phone’s answering machine blinked steadily, requesting his attention.

A message from his stepfather, Shuichi suspected. He called every day to check that Shuichi was okay.

Shuichi headed into the bathroom to change out of his uniform and into something more comfortable. He removed the necklace first, hanging it on a hook meant to hold a towel.

_Why do you resist?_

Shuichi stared at his face in the mirror. His eyes were rimmed with dark circles and his lips were bitten up. He’d lost weight, too, evident in the sharpness of his features. Even the ruby-red colour of his long hair had lost its vibrancy.

Others were beginning to notice, too. Yusuke had commented just that morning that Shuichi looked as though he’d not slept a wink for a week.

Accurate.

Behind him, a shadow began to coalesce, smoky tendrils of darkness bleeding into reality from another dimension. Shuichi resisted the urge to turn around, knowing that the vision was all in his mind.

But the scars that crisscrossed his skin beneath his shirt were not all in his mind. His own hands had drawn those scars, though Shuichi could not remember doing that.

_I could give you everything you ever wanted._

Shuichi snarled into the mirror.

“I want you to go away, thief!” he snapped.

_I can’t do that._

The shadow’s face revealed itself in the mirror above Shuichi’s head. Pale, noble features; a beautiful face framed by silver hair. Eyes glowing the same gold as the piece of jewellery hanging on the hook.

The ghost that had attached itself to the Millennium Ring that Shuichi’s stepfather had given him. The ghost that was now attached to Shuichi himself.

_I still need you, boy._

“I don’t need you.”

Shuichi stripped off his uniform, doing his best to avoid lingering on the sight of the scars. Punishments for his defiance. Punishments for trying to thwart the ghost that now shared his body.

Did the Millennium Puzzle carry a ghost, just as the Millennium Ring did? Shuichi strongly suspected that it did. Yusuke had been good at the card game of Duel Monsters before, but since acquiring the Puzzle, he had become exceptional.

Whatever the thief wanted, Shuichi was sure that it had something to do with the Millennium Puzzle. The ghost had fixated on it the moment Shuichi had seen it around Yusuke’s neck.

Shuichi changed into a comfortable set of sweatpants and a t-shirt before fixing a quick meal for himself. He ate at the dining room table, staring silently at the perpetually empty place across from him.

“I think he knows about you,” Shuichi whispered.

_They both do._

Shuichi closed his eyes, the golden hue of his tormentor’s eyes flooding his mind. The memories came with it. Screams. Blood. Pain. Shuichi let out a ragged breath, trying to push the bitter taste of death from his mouth.

His dreams would not be pleasant ones. These days, they never were.

“Yusuke and… the other one?”

_Yes._

Shuichi let the silence fall around him again, a blanket that provided no warmth or comfort.

A card game. Spirits trapped inside ancient Egyptian artefacts. Spirits hellbent on using the bodies of the living to settle old scores.

Spirits that were playing a game far more serious and dangerous than Duel Monsters. And one of them had dragged Shuichi right into the middle of it. He could only hope that he and Yusuke did not end up as casualties in a fight that neither of them had asked to be a part of.


End file.
